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Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Flour

The bakery that originally planned to make our wedding cake suffered extensive damages from the hurricanes and the flooding. We received the sad (and stressful) news that with only 3 weeks until the wedding, they would not be able to make our wedding cake.

So after spending an appropriate amount of time freaking out, Nathalie and I went looking for another baker over the weekend. But given that most businesses in the town have closed due to damages or due to the lack of workers returning to town, we had a hell of a time trying to find one still open.

While driving around the downtown area looking for whatever bakeries are open, we drove through some neighborhoods with ghastly sights from the flooding. There were the demolished buildings and piles of rubble we've seen before, but then we came across something that we haven't seen: spray painted markings on the doors and walls of buildings. These were left behind by the National Guard and other Search and Rescue teams. The markings indicated the date of inspection, the identification of the inspectors, and a number signifying the body count in the building.

We drove by these empty buildings with their freshly spray painted marks, silenced by the horror of it all.